CENTRO PECCI | SAVE THE DATE GRAND OPENING – PRATO

Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art, Prato
Press and Professionals preview: 15th October, 2016
Grand Opening: 16th October, 2016

www.centropecci.it – Viale della Repubblica 277 – 59100 Prato (Italy)

The Grand Opening of the new Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art is approaching.
Scheduled for the 16th of October 2016, the Centre will reopen upon the completion of the futuristic, spaceship-shaped extension by the Rotterdam based architect Maurice Nio, and the renovation of the original building by Italo Gamberini. The Pecci Centre will in fact be the only public institution dedicated to contemporary art in Italy, and one of the few in Europe, to inaugurate a new building between 2010-2020.

Founded in 1988 — the first institution in Italy to be built from scratch with the specific intent to exhibit, collect, preserve, document and distribute the most advanced artistic research — the Pecci Centre is about to become an international benchmark for the experimentation of multiple contemporary artistic languages. Its mission, in fact, is to explore various disciplines of contemporary culture including film, music, performing arts, architecture, design, fashion and literature, whilst simultaneously seeking to make art as accessible as possible to society.

Thus, in addition to more than doubling the size of the exhibition spaces, the new centre will also have an archive and specialised library which will include over 50,000 volumes, an outdoor theatre, a cinema/auditorium, a performance space in the galleries, a bookshop, a restaurant and a pub/bistro. It will not only be an exhibition space, but one which is versatile and transformable, for experimentation and research. It will aim to create a dynamic relationship with spectators, becoming a particularly active place with the extension of opening hours on evenings when the exhibition is accompanied by performances, concerts and screenings, as well as conferences, workshops and courses for adults. As the first among Italian public institutions to do so, this creation of a research department which aims to build the theoretical foundation of various initiatives and to largely develop educational activities is an important step.

The inaugural exhibition, titled ‘The End of the World’ and curated by the director Fabio Cavallucci with the support of various collaborators and advisors, will occupy the entire exhibition area of the museum and will feature a full programme of side events and multidisciplinary projects. The exhibition will not be a manifestation of a catastrophic and apocalyptic vision, but rather will take a look at our present from an outsider’s perspective which forces us to view the world from afar and to think about the immeasurable cosmic distances and the interminable eras of the Earth and the Universe, in face of which our lives seem like insubstantial fragments. The exhibition will unfold between spaces which bring about a sense of cosmic silence and tranquility but also more frantic and chaotic environments, with works by international figures such as the Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, the Cuban Carlos Garaicoa, the Chinese Qiu Zhijie and the Brazilian Henrique Oliveira. It will combine all arts in a continuous flow, thanks to architectural, musical and theatrical aspects, which will be an integral part of the exhibition.

The occasion of the reopening of the Pecci Centre, to which the Region of Tuscany bestows the task of coordinating all things contemporary for the area, will also give the city of Prato the opportunity to host a series of events and parallel exhibitions. Among these will be a display of great works provided by Tuscan galleries in a spectacular industrial building, exhibitions dedicated to young artists, works in public spaces and projects in the Central Park of Prato, the recent design contest for which some of the best architects and landscapers worldwide participated in.

In the run-up to the reopening, under the leadership of Fabio Cavallucci, the Pecci Centre launched a series of initiatives aimed at focusing debate on current events in order to return to the root of “making culture”, through numerous dialogue and sharing tools such as conferences with internationally prominent figures — from Zygmunt Bauman to Luis Sepúlveda and David Grossman; structured and innovative educational activities, historically started by Bruno Munari; a project for mapping emerging creativity in Tuscany; the Forum on Italian Contemporary Art, the first national Forum to analyse the “art system in Italy” and understand the reasons why it is not competitive at international level, going as far as imagining solutions, making constructive proposals and formulating shared strategies.

In recent months the Pecci Centre moved the debate to the new website (available in Italian, English and Chinese) which has been transformed from a mere channel of information and promotion of the museum, with sections dedicated to the exhibitions, to the collection and to events and education. It is a platform for research and discussion developed around themes which span various fields of knowledge. The in-depth research tool within the site is the Journal, which hosts essays and interviews, as well as contributions from writers, philosophers, scientists, theorists (including writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II, physicist and director of the Scuola Normale Superiore Fabio Beltram and journalist Wlodek Goldkorn, with forthcoming contributions from Noam Chomsky, Luis Sepúlveda and Pascal Gielen) who analyse the complexities of the contemporary ethos. It is a place of participation, interactive and open to all those who wish to fuel the debate, even over the coming months, with comments, additions and proposals.

The Journal is also a virtual area of “construction” for the inaugural exhibition with videos, photos and interviews with the protagonists of the show being added in the run up to the opening. It is an experiment which reformulates the concept of information exclusivity, making the content available to all and in particular, modifying it gradually depending on publicparticipation and on the flow of contributions received. It is a new way to communicate the activities of the Centre by sharing with the all of the online communities which interact daily on social media.

From autumn, to coincide with the reopening, the Pecci Centre will be present at BASE Milan (in the space of the former Ansaldo factory) with previews and meetings on the theme of contemporary art.

The Foundation for Contemporary Art in Tuscany is the new tool, established by the City of Prato and supported by the Region of Tuscany, to manage the Pecci Centre. The Grand Opening programme involves the participation of numerous partners and sponsors, including Terna, Chianti Banca, Publiacqua S.p.A. and ASM S.p.A. Thanks also to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Italy.